


Tell Me

by pir8fancier



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-16
Updated: 2012-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-29 16:05:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/321686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pir8fancier/pseuds/pir8fancier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The aftermath of the Reichenback Falls episode.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tell Me

**Author's Note:**

> No beta, fairly dark in tone. You're warned.

**At the graveside**

Nicked underside of chin shaving due to tremor in hands. Shirt collar slightly grimy at neck, presupposing that he picked it up off the floor because he did not have clean shirt. Slight limp, sign of returning psychosomatic symptoms. Trousers dusty in patches, again, indicating that they’d been retrieved from the floor. Jacket loose, indicating a loss of weight, two kilos, no, three.

 **At hospital canteen**

Greater weight loss: 5 kilos. Doctor’s smock decidedly looser: Depth of shadows under eyes indicate chronic insomnia. Loss of appetite. Eating only in response to Molly’s nagging. State of shirt collar? Grimy. Cuffs? Also grimy. New flat does not have laundry facilities? Shoes? Walking to work, mud caked on heel. Limp more pronounced. Cane has returned.

 **At Mycroft’s club**

Jacket decidedly looser: 10 kilos. Hair needs cutting, hasn’t been to barber in four months six days and four hours. Shirt collar, frayed, and unspeakably dirty. Foot jiggling, chronic anxiety response. Excessive sweating, could be alcohol withdrawal. Gulping drinks, therefore most definitely alcohol withdrawal. Rosacea on cheeks confirms diagnosis. Jacket missing two buttons, pocket on right side torn at corner. Dear god, John.

****************************************

"We have to do something, Sherlock. Now."

"He will never forgive me."

"Possibly not, but then it’s not about you."

"This was never about me! It was about them!"

"Be that as it may, we need to devise another strategy, because according to _my_ assessment, he is three days away from ending up on a roof top with a gun in his mouth--"

"Two days, ten hours, give or take four minutes."

"...or jumps off the roof of your building in homage to your own swan dive."

"It is not _my_ building."

"It is now."


End file.
